


Coming Up Roses

by lottielovebuzz



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Olympics, Coach!Jody, F/F, Gymnast!Anna, Gymnast!Claire, Gymnast!Hael, Gymnast!Jo, Gymnastic AU, Gymnastics, Olympics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-04
Packaged: 2018-02-11 19:18:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2080008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lottielovebuzz/pseuds/lottielovebuzz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna stares at the beam with trepidation. </p><p>This is the final piece of apparatus for her, and in turn her team, and is the piece that will decide whether they will get a gold or silver medal. And it is comlpetely up to her. She needs to score at least twelve points otherwise they are out of the running for gold, and everyone on her team will hate her; Hael, Claire and even her girlfriend, Jo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Up Roses

Anna stares at the beam with trepidation. 

This is the final piece of apparatus for her, and in turn her team, and is the piece that will decide whether they will get a gold or silver medal. And it is comlpetely up to her. She needs to score at _least_ twelve points otherwise they are out of the running for gold, and everyone on her team will hate her; Hael, Claire and even her girlfriend, Jo. 

There's too much at stake, and she's the one that will determine whether they are first or second; whether she will receive a kiss from her girlfriend in celebration or whether she'll get dumped. Which will therefore make tonight the worst night of her life.

'And the final contestant will be Anna Milton for Team USA.' The voice announces through the mic, and it spreads through the stadium until it feels like it's smothering Anna alive. How is she supposed to perform when she feels like she can't even support herself on her legs? When everyone is watching her expectantly?

 _Take a deep breath, Anna, and just relax,_ her mind advises her and she does as she is told. She sucks in a lungful of air and holds it for a beat, before letting it out slowly. She stands from the bench, not even looking to the side to see Jo's supportive look. 

However, she doesn't make it past her coach, Jody, for she grabs ahold of her hand and whirls her around. Jody places her hands on Anna's shoulders, fixing her with that soft, motherly gaze that she's mastered just for Anna. 

'Go out and perform, Anna, but don't feel like you need to win. We're happy with a silver, we want to see you have a great performance. That's all.' Jody whispers before she runs a hand over Anna's red hair, careful so she doesn't pull any strands out of her ponytail. 

Jody walks her over to the beam, standing off to the side as she watches Anna lean down and scoop up some chalk. She spreads it over her hands, drying the sweat before it has a chance to grow anymore. She takes a step forward and soaks her feet in the dry, white substance, and then she walks to stand in front of the thin beam. 

Anna ignores the roar from the crowd, as her hands caress the tan fabric. She's dedicated all her life to this moment, and now that it's here she doesn't want to let her team, and herself, down. Her fingers curl around the beam before she pulls herself onto it, sliding both of her legs out to her right, balancing on her hip as they spread out over the apparatus. 

She glides her arm out to the side, then lifts it up over her head in time with her right leg. She takes a deep breath in as she manoeuvres herself on to her feet, moving as elegantly as possible. Things are tight enough as it is, she doesn't need to lose points because she moved like a clumsly oaf. 

She's allowed to start whenever she wants; there's no sound that lets her know when to begin, but as soon as she's on her feet, she starts to move. She feels like she'd lose a lot of points if she just stood still for five minutes, trying to get her nerves under control. 

Anna's hands spread out on either side of her, and she imagines herself having wings that pour out of her shoulders and guide her along. She steels herself with a deep breath, then runs along the thin barrier beneath her feet.

When she hits just off the centre of the panel, she launches herself into the air, imagining her wings spreading out as she flips, knees tucking deep into her chest. Her feet wobble as they hit the hard beam beneath her, but she manages to stick it; her wings keeping her balanced and steady.

But the feeling of having wings instead of arms, using them to keep herself balanced so she can win this competition for her team fades as soon as it had come. She moves into her next move, a double cartwheel flip, and things go perfectly until her feet hit the hard piece of equipment. Neither herself nor her wings can support and help keep her upright.

She falls from the beam, surrounded by the sound of loud gasps from the audience, and when she lands on the soft mat that cushions her blow, all she can see is her wings burning away beneath her. 

She's not a quitter however, and so she pulls herself back on to her feet and scrambles back on to the beam to finish her routine. Anna steps over to the edge of the plank, blinking furiously to stop the tears from flowing as she continues in to the next move. She jumps into the air, kicking into the splits, and when she gets to the other end, she turns and hurtles into yet another flip. 

She's pretty positive that she heard the shuddering intake of breath when she throws herself into the same move that caused her to fall off, but it could have just been in her mind. 

It doesn't really matter though, for she sticks the landing this time and she knows the tiny _whoo!_ she heard was not made up.

There's three more jumps and a backflip, all of which she manages to land, but it doesn't matter - the damage is already done. She's not going to get the score she needed for her team to get gold. She'll be lucky if she gets any points in the double digits if she's honest. 

When it comes for her to dismount, Anna decides that she's fucked up everything anyway, so why not go out with a bang, and it's that idea that has her running the length of the bar, before hurtling herself into an extradordinary backflip.

She jumps forward a little when her feet land on the ground once more, but her breathing is harsh and sharp from the exuberant feeling of _flying_ , and all of a sudden her wings are back. She brings her arms up above her head, pointing her fingers as the crowd shout and applaud her. Anna turns to register every angle of the stadium, but really all she wants to do is slink away from their roars and their gazes. 

As soon as she can, she steps off the lifted stadium that the apparatus is stationed on, shrugging away from Jody's grasp as she tries to wrap a reassuring arm around her student's shoulders. 

Instead, Anna presses on, moving over to the bench and starts to pull on her tracksuit over her leotard. She hears the announcer declare her score of only 11.233 points, but she doesn't pay attention to it. She grinds the palm of her hand into her eyes, drying the tears before they manage to fall. 

Anna pulls her bag on over her shoulder and goes to turn away, ready to leave the stadium as the commentator starts rambling on about how Team GB had taken the gold because she had let Team USA down… even if they weren't that blunt, that's definitely the meaning behind their speech. 

She just manages to turn away from everyone else when there's hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. Anna freezes up immediately, knowing exactly who's hand it is on her shoulder, even from the small sideways glance she has. 

'Where the hell do you think you're going?' Jo's voice cuts through her thoughts, dashing any hopes she had of getting a quick and easy escape. 'We've still got a silver medal to get!' 

'Exactly. _Silver_. All because I fell on my ass.' Anna hisses. She wants to shrug out from under Jo's hand, just to get away from her and everyone else that's staring at her with pity in their gazes. But she finds she can't. The warmth from Jo's touch manages to seep through her tracksuit and leotard, reaching her skin and still managing to burn it even through those layers. 

'Everyone falls on their ass at some point in this life, Anna.' Jo declares as she readjusts her hold on Anna's shoulder, so she can walk around to stand in front of her girlfriend, the softest of smiles on her face. 'Doesn't mean a damn thing. We still won a medal, we'll just come back next time and kick GB's ass then.' 

'We could have had gold! If it were up to you or Claire or Hael, we would have a gold medal, but because it was _me_ , we ended up with silver. How can you still be happy about that? How can you still want to _speak_ to me? I ruined our chances.' 

The look on Jo's face is one of pure exasperation as her hands move to cup Anna's face, thumbs brushing under her eyes to banish the tears that had started to fall. 

'Anna, I love you, but you need to shut up and stop being so _fucking_ stupid. _This_ ,' she waves her hand around the stadium, towards all the equipment, 'this is just a fucking job. I can only do this for another two or three years before the world declares I'm too old to compete, and I'm actually _counting down_ till that day. I don't want to be doing this forever. Sure, I love it, but I love you more, Anna, and when I'm old and wrinkled, and can't even walk the length of myself, let alone run into a triple handspring, I'd rather have you by my side than a stupid gold medal!' 

And before Anna can even begin to argue that declaration, Jo pulls her in to a tight embrace and presses her lips against her girlfriend's. 

The roar from the crowd is deafening, but Anna and Jo only have thoughts and eyes for each other.

~oOoOoOoOoOo~

Anna stares at the beam as a smirk pulls at her lips as she eyes the damn thing up. 

Four years. Four years since the last time she was at the Games, and the last time she fell on her ass in the final; fell at the most important moment. She had thought she had lost everything then, but instead she had gained everything. 

She's already announced to the world that she plans on "retiring" after this year's Olympics. Her and Jo both. Things had shifted dramatically over those four years, and they were now waiting for the woman carrying their child to give birth. 

Anna never thought she'd ever leave the gymnastic world, but here she was. She _wanted_ to leave it; she had a gorgeous home, a wonderful wife and a little adopted baby on the way at any moment. 

To be honest, she didn't really want to compete in these games either… but then she remembered last time and the promise that Jo made to her. She wanted to take that gold medal home this time. 

Anna runs on to the springboard, jumping up on to the piece of apparatus that had always been daunting to her, and takes only a second to steel herself. 

She launches straight into a forward flip, before jumping into splits to get her to the other edge of the beam. Instead of turning, she stays facing away from the beam and launches into two backward handsprings that bring her to the other end. 

She crouches down with her left leg straight out in front of her, toes pointed perfectly, and spins on the beam. When she stands upright, kicking her left leg backwards, so that the tip of her toes hit against her head, she then leaps into a pike, making her way down to the end of the platform again. 

Anna then throws herself into a cartwheel, which then turns into a cartwheel-flip, which then turns into a plain front flip. She raises her hands above her head, trying to keep her face neutral as she realises that she is just about to do her dismount and hasn't fucked up her performance. 

And with a full twisting, double backflip, Anna dismounts from the beam and manages to stick it perfectly. Her arms fly out above her head, and the image of her wings burning bright come back to her once more.

She doesn't even care about anything else once she's finished, she rushes over to Jo, throwing herself in to her wife's embrace, wanting to share her happiness with the woman she loves. Jo giggles at her actions but pulls back far enough so she can press a kiss to her lips, before they disentangle so that Anna can embrace Claire and Hael, who are equally happy as Anna.

By the time they pull apart the judges have already made their decision, and announce Anna's score over the loudspeaker. 

_15.322._

Anna lets out a scream of triumph at the high score she received, especially when she only needed 14.244 to get her girls a gold medal this time around.

Neither Jo nor Anna can help themselves, and they throw themselves at each other, as do Claire and Hael, all four pressing their lips to their loved ones as the crowd erupt, both from the affectionate display from the winning team, and the fact that Team USA has officially won the gold medal. 

And whilst Jo had told her that she'd rather have Anna beside her in her old age, Anna can't help but feel happy that she helped her wife get a gold medal too. 

**Author's Note:**

> enjoying this fic?? I'd love you forever if you bought me a coffee!! ko-fi.com/cahwrites


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